halofanonfandomcom-20200223-history
M96 Bandicoot Mine Laying Vehicle
The M96 Bandicoot Mine Laying Vehicle is a Coyote CRV series vehicle, built on a heavily modified UCRV chassis, designed to seed an area with land mines of varying kinds. The system consists of modular dispensers which can be fired to either side or to the rear, mounted on six sets of turntables. It uses either conventional weight activated anti tank mines, the M320 Anti Tank Mine, useful against armoured vehicles using treads or wheels, though being phased out in favour of the M341 Anti Tank Mine that use a mixture of pressure, magnetic induction and vibrations to detect vehicles and vent almost a dozen incendiary flechettes into the underbelly of a armoured vehicle via an explosive charge. These catch fire inside it and burn it internally. It also fires M121 Bounding Anti Personnel Mine which bound up when the sensor network detects a hostile combatant and sprays their direction with tungsten fragments. These mines are carried in canisters, (each of which hold six mines with up to 40 canisters), and are carried on a launcher rack. These are on the rear of the Bandicoot and discharge the mines either side as the vehicle moves across the terrain. A dispenser control unit provides fire signals, testing and arming of the self-destruct mechanism. Also, these mines can be activated and deactivated with 1000 digit codes to allow friendlies to pass through the field, along with IFF detection and querying. This means they cannot be bombarded with random codes to simply deactivate them. The mine launchers are often mixed together in a cocktail of anti-armour and anti-personnel to slow down the process of manual mine clearing. The vehicle is built up from a titanium alloy chassis with bolted on mixed titanium/composite/AEGIS ceramic plating, giving it enough strength to withstand up to 70mm high velocity guns, though it's armour is compromised near instantly. It is powered by a powerful V8 hydrogen powerpack which burns the hydrogen fuel at a very high temperature with a synthetic carbon/silicon catalyst to achieve even better fuel consumption, allowing it to reach speeds of 107KPH. The engine powers all eight wheels. These powerpacks also power the on-board communications, sensors the gun and other electronic systems. The wheels each have independent adaptive suspension using adaptive Magneto-rheological dampers to ensure comfort, stability, control and agility and use nanotube skeleton run-flat tires, providing all the benefits of normal tires, with none of the drawbacks while being nigh-indestructible. on top of that, each wheel has titanium composite rims and fully articulate and individual suspension, with the front four being supported by titanium alluminide/AEGIS composite tire shields, protecting them from further harm. Each wheel can, individually, have its pressure modified to adjust its cross country ability. It features a V shaped sealed hull, with a high concentration of non-newtonian material with heavily sloped armour and ability to become amphibious, to a limited extent, allowing it to cross rivers and lakes to combat the enemy. It's raised engine exhausts also feature thermal shrouds to disguise the vehicle during operations. The vehicle contains a weight transference system linked to gyroscopes to achieve a perfect balance even over rough terrain, transferring inbuilt weights and fuel to keep the vehicle balanced and stable. The computer controlled power distribution system can distribute the power to each wheel accurately enough to maintain enough traction to keep it mobile and all wheels operate by a triple redundant drive-by-light control system. Like all hydrogen powered vehicles in the UNSC, it features a inbuilt AMG H/G Actuator. It is capable of converting up to 12 liters of water (from any source) into hydrogen quickly and efficiently, compacting any non-convertible detritus within the water on board and allowing a range of 200 kilometres from just overnight condensation catchments. This allows it to operate almost indefinitely in the field, where a supply of water is plentiful. The vehicle has a hydraulic ram door to the back and doors on each side, all three being equipped with emergency explosive bolts to remove them in case of severe damage or emergencies. On the roof it has a pair of opening doors and two hatches for the commander and gunner. The armour is covered in radiation protective liquid glass resins, infra-red suppressive paint and LIDAR/RADAR absorbent paint. The Driver is sat in the up armoured 'combat tub' which is the forward chamber, with heavily upgraded armour and has single crystal quartz glass windows, with self regenerative features and self polarising protective features (from blinding LASERs and bright flashes) and gold tinting to protect from electromagnetic interference, which can resist even heavy fire, from 70mm cannons, at least for brief periods. The Driver can lift up the forward screen to allow easy access, escape or just raise it slightly for unhindered observance. Sat behind the driver is the main gunner, with a holographic weapons station for controlling the main gun system, with a universal bus that allows any single vehicle to be adapted to use any number of weapon systems. Sat to the left in the main hull in the 'operations' seat is the Commander, who has access to the defensive turret and the electronic warfare and defensive systems, allowing him to provide short range support for disembarking soldiers. For close in defence against light threats, the vehicle is fitted with a single PALADIN Weapon Station controlled by the gunner. UNSC Remarks "When we got word of the Covvie armour pressing to Kasiim, we just mined that whole region in half a hour. Four kilometres MINED. It was awesome."